2007 Pegau: great or the greatest Pegau?

Count me in the ranks of those that thinks there’s nothing that extraordinary about 2007 CDP. So many great vintages over the last decade and more. But then, neither do I think 2007 to be over the top or out of character for CDP. I like 2007. A lot. I like 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001, 2000, 1998… a lot.
All that said, I’m having my first 2007 Pegau and its the best young Pegau I’ve ever had. OMG! I am happy to have bought this wine. I will admit the only young Pegaus I’ve had are 2003- 2006. And I’ve gotten a kick out of all of them. The 2003 got me into Pegau, but it hasn’t shown too well lately. Shut down? The vintage? I don’t know. The 2004 is smoking right now, but DAMN… 2007! Oh boy. For me, the greatest Pegau ever.
Rejoice! Big Bad Blind-tasting Bob gave it only a paltry 94-96.
Sorry I don’t have the imagination to do tasting notes nor the questionable taste give a score. But this wine is way up there in the ranks of the best wines I’ve ever had.

Strange, yet another Pegau thread. Here are my notes on the 2007 Pegau Reservee when taste from foudre last June- 12/6/2009: Incredible nose, with red meat, plums, red fruit and gorgeous minerality. Perfect balance on the palate, with velvety tannins and clean, pure cherry flavours and lifted pepper and spice notes especially towards the finish. Lots of concentration, lots of elegance. Laurence Feraud said that the 2007 vintage had such perfect conditions that the wine more or less made itself. You could see why from this sample. Full of potential as it was though, it still had a sense of being disassembled, with some missing flesh here and there. I have no doubt it will be a knock-out wine in years to come. 93 for now.

I thought it was really good, but not quite as mindblowing as some of the older vintages I have had. The 2007 Da Capo, also tasted from foudre on the same day though, was absolutely the single greatest young CDP I have ever tried. Heck, it was one of the very best young wines of any sort I had ever tried:

A symphony of all 13 permitted CdP grapes, hence the name Da Capo. From foudre - the only one that will be made. This was the final blend, and it was astoundingly good. Dark black in colour. Nose had winter melon, glycerol with sweet rich plums and roast meat. Nice, but the palate was simply mind-blowing. Tons of complexity wrapped up in the finest structure with lovely melted tannins and incredible balance from clean acid. There was just so much going on even in its extreme youth. Full on fruit with lots of depth, brambly undertones, powerful licorice notes. Very complete, even profound. As would be expected, the finish was incredibly long and powerful, with prickly acidity lifting prunes and mineral notes. A simply glorious wine. This will go on to be a legend. 96-97

Daniel,

Not THE greatest, but one of the greatest young Pegaus …
but I have to take into account

  • 1990 Reservee
  • 1995 Cuvee Maxim
  • 1998 Da Capo
  • 2000 Da Capo
  • 2001 Reservee
  • 2003 Reservee and Da Capo
  • 2007 Da Capo !!!
    and
  • 1998 and 2001 Cuvee Laurence !

so it´s simply impossible to state this is the greatest.

See report here, wine #20:

Sure most of the wines above are not “young” anymore (yes, the 2003 might be shut down a bit, but I´haven´t tasted it for 3 years - but I´ve tasted all of them out of cask and right after bottling, so I know what I say …

I think I have to re-post the report about my Pegau-vertical … although it was already 6 years ago …

Daniel,

maybe the least “rustic” wine from Pegau for a while - and I mean this only
in comparison to the other Reserve. I had a half bottle in March and I liked it
a lot, but not more than say, the 2005 when we try to extrapolate the potential.

But what do I know, it might well be in 10 years everybody is going ga-ga over this
wine and nobody will look at the 2005…

Cheers
Christian

Wait until it gets older. The 2001 Pegau was really good on release. Haven’t had the 2007 yet. I drank the 1995 last night, and that wine is really a point now – once upon a time it was hard and somewhat joyless but it has come into its own.

Sadly, I can only dream of greater Pegaus than the 2007.

Daniel,

jump on a plane and come to our CDP offline next Thursday (27.) in Zürich [drinkers.gif]

Cheers
Christian

Christian,
Thanks for the invitation. I would if I could but I can’t.

Amazing! Just two minutes ago I realized I dreamt of visiting Pegau last night. Only hours after finishing the bottle of 07. I actually was in the Luberon last summer and managed a very short trip to CDP where I was able to drop by the little shop (cave… what do you call it?) in town. Next time I will do whatever it takes to visit the domaine.

I should ask this of CDP lovers:

Is either the 2007 Pegau Reservee or the 2007 CDP vintage in general “over the top”, or somehow not characteristic of CDP? A lot more experienced people than myself think it is (at least the vintage in general). I don’t get that at all.

I’ve had 11 2007 CDP I’ve yet to taste an Aussie-like, Zin-like or New World-like one. One the other hand, I do get a lot of beef blood, spicey, berry (both light and dark) flavors. They do taste “modern”, I guess, because they are so approachable now.

Daniel,

I’m no expert in CdP, but from my experience with '07 wines from the S Rhone in general, that is not a vintage I am really enjoying. I haven’t had the chance to taste many other vintages from S Rhone at this young stage, so my experience in very limited, but I found every example I’ve tried from '07 (around 10 or 11 wines) to be very modern and ripe.

I haven’t bought many 07 S Rhone wines as a result, and Im not sure if I will regret this later when these wines mature…I guess time will tell. I’m very hesitant to trust Parker’s ratings because lately his scores seem very inflated and also his palate seems to really enjoy modern/ripe wines (09 Bordeaux for example).

I don´t think the vintage 2007 is over the top, but there are some over-the-top-wines that are not to everybodys taste …

Read my report about the tasting of 24+ CdPs … I had problems with one producer or another …

BTW: the Pegau town-shop is called “caveau” …

Gerhard

I am still waiting for my 07 Pegau from Premier Cru. Of the Pegaus of this decade, I am enjoying the 04 a lot right now.

Hard to imagine anything will surpass the 2003 but look forward to trying it. Too bad it is twice the price now.

Peter,
the 2007 is less “hot”, less voluptuous than 2003, more “classic” and “earthy” than 2003 - closer to the young 1990.
The price off domaine is not nearly twice the price … from 28 EUR (2003) to 35 /2007) … the rest is $ vers. Euro, importers, speculation, hype etc.

(BTW: that is not you on your avatar - otherwise I ve got to recommend a dentist …) [wink.gif]

The '03 da Capo is a pretty horrid wine. I imagine if the '07 is anything like it I will also not enjoy it. I have one bottle left of the '03 and I am wondering whether I should just sell it or open it for someone who “might” appreciate it in all its gooey, gloppy, grossness.